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Sources: Notre Dame football makes new recruiting office hire

Singer headshotby:Mike Singer•03/06/25•

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(Mike Singer/On3)

The Notre Dame football recruiting and personnel office has seen a shakeup this offseason, with general manager Chad Bowden and director of player personnel Zaire Turner leaving for USC, and director of recruiting Caleb Davis accepting the GM position at San Diego State.

The Irish have formally hired general manager Mike Martin to replace Bowden and are expected to make a few other hires to bolster the personnel department.

Blue & Gold can report one of them. The Irish have made a new hire in Ariella Ellis, who worked at Virginia State University (Division II) as director of football operations. She earned that title prior to the start of the 2023 football season.

According to the Virginia State athletics website, Ellis originally attended Alabama State University as a student-athlete before transferring to Virginia State and obtaining her bachelors in criminal justice.

Blue & Gold can’t confirm what Ellis’ title will be just yet; that will be known when Notre Dame makes this hire official.

Carter Auman is the Fighting Irish’s new director of recruiting after working as the assistant general manager previously, and Deland McCullough II — the son of the former Notre Dame running backs coach — is another key member of the department. Becca Sites has been the coordinator of on-campus recruiting since last summer and may be in line for a promotion.

Last week, Notre Dame announced officially announced the hiring as Martin as new general manager.

“Mike Martin is an innovative, forward-thinking, organized leader, who is also elite at talent evaluation,” Notre Dame head coach Marcus Freeman said in a statement. “He is a great communicator and has valuable experience in roster building and management, as he was a vital piece of enhancing and developing the Detroit Lions’ roster over the last few years. Additionally, his expertise in utilizing sports science and analytics will help us continue to elevate our program.

RELATED: Everything Notre Dame general manager Mike Martin said in introductory news conference

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